The narrator’s point of view is the reader’s window into the soul of your story. Combined with the tone of voice, characterization, and dialogue, these elements of the craft of writing give your story believability and interest. How can you combine the elements of the craft with the elements of the short story and the techniques of development you learned about in Weeks 1 and 2? In this Discussion, you will understand point of view, tone of voice, characterization, and dialogue and examine how other writers use these elements of craft to improve their work.
To prepare for this Discussion:
Review the assigned portions of Chapters 3, 4, 6, and 7 in Shaping the Story.
Review “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor, “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros, and “Why I Like Country Music” by James Alan McPherson in Shaping the Story.
Reflect on the voice in the assigned stories.
- How would you describe the voice in each short story?
- How do these voices demonstrate what the authors are saying about the main issues of each story?
- Reflect on the similarities and differences in the ways that the authors use dialogue to establish character presence.
- Consider the issues that each story discusses. How do these issues shape the characters and affect the light in which they are seen at the beginning and the end of the story?
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